Pet Names
by only-mj
Summary: Lance finds out about his teammates' relationship and decides to give them a hard time. He soon realizes, though, that he can take a joke too far when it begins to effect how they form Voltron. Rating for language. Sheith.


It was not unusual for either of them to dress in silence the morning after. Keith quietly made this way through the bedroom, picking up his discarded clothes from the floor wherever they had landed, his throat raw and body aching pleasantly from the night before. Shiro studied him from where he sat on the bed that he had claimed as for himself in The Castle of Lions. Already fully clothed he enjoyed watching his partner scramble around awkwardly. It was a sight that he had missed so much. A sight that Shiro honestly never thought he would see again. It was one thing to escape his captivity alive, and a far greater something to be reunited with _him_ so soon after. "Hey. Wait." Shiro called out, breaking the silence as he reached to lightly grab a hold of Keith's arm. The metal of the prosthetic was cool against Keith's bare skin. They were both still getting used to it. They were both still getting used to a lot of things that had happened recently. The arm, The Lions, living on the Castle-Ship, Voltron. He allowed himself to be taken into Shiro's strong arms. The taller man held him close to his chest. Even though so much had changed so suddenly, they both held on to each other as the one constant in their lives. "We're going to stagger our arrivals." Shiro spoke, more of a suggestion than an order.

He blinked at the strange statement. "Why?" Keith asked bluntly, turning his head to study Shiro's face and instead being greeted by a quick kiss on his lips.

Shiro let out a sigh against the younger man's face. He thought about how beautiful Keith was. He thought about how much he did not want to say what had to be said. "I... I don't want the others to know yet..." He explained carefully. "About… Us…"

Purple eyes narrowed as Keith pulled away from Shiro angrily. "Why not?" He snapped, unable to pick up on Shiro's train of thought. Back on Earth neither of them had seemed to care who knew about their relationship, so Keith wondered what was suddenly so different.

"Keith..." Shiro started, grabbing a hold of him once more and pulling him close to his chest in an effort to calm his partner. "We're part of something bigger than the two of us now. We're part of a team and I'm our leader. It wouldn't be good for the team if everyone thought I was showing favorites."

"But you are." Keith argued. He knew deep down that Shiro was right. He knew that the cause for concern was valid. Still, he had to admit he did not like the idea of keeping something so important to him a secret.

Shiro offered him a smile, squeezing him closely and pecking his cheek. "But no one needs to know that just yet." He argued back before granting him another kiss. "I'm going to go to breakfast now. You finish getting ready and I'll see you in five." Shiro spoke before releasing him, rising to his feet to slip on his boots.

"Yes, sir." Keith responded, returning the smile and searching for his shirt on the floor of Shiro's bedroom. He heard the door slide open then closed as his partner stepped out into the presently empty hallway.

Shiro was honestly surprised to find only Lance in the dining hall. The Blue Paladin seemed to be already halfway done with his bowl of breakfast goo. For a moment Shiro wondered what had the usually late sleeper up so early. The two exchanged smiles before Shiro took a seat across from him. He offered Lance a kind, "Good morning," before digging into the green goo that they were all gradually getting used to eating.

Shiro could hear the smile in Lance's voice when he responded far too casually with, "Good morning, _Daddy_."

The older man swallowed his food too fast, choking on slime as the greeting caught him way too off guard. Only one person ever called him that, and it was definitely not the person sitting across from him at the table. "I- I- I'm... Sorry... What?" He managed out between coughs. Shiro could feel his face heating up as he dared to look across the table at Lance.

He was greeted by an annoyingly knowing grin and a casual shrug. Shiro caught the smug look on his face and for a moment could begin to see why his boyfriend disliked the young man so much. "Nothing..." Lance responded nonchalantly, taking a bite of his breakfast.

Shiro stared down at his food. He swore he could feel dark blue eyes staring into him as Shiro tried to re-focus on eating. He could hear his heart in his ears. Shiro knew he had to say something, anything. "Lance—"

"You know you would think that walls of a castle would be a lot thicker..." Lance continued, as though he were thinking out loud, glancing up from his meal to flash him a wide grin.

Shiro let out a sigh. ' _So much for keeping everything a secret_.' He swore under his breath and thought there was no use hiding anything now. "I know we all decided we weren't going to keep any secrets from the team…" He started, feeling the need to explain himself. "I just… I didn't want anyone to be mad that I was spending more time with him, or giving him special attention."

Unfazed by the explanation, he was not ready to let up on giving his leader a hard time. He had prepared too many jokes to let Shiro go that easily. "I'm furious." Lance responded, continuing the light-hearted tone he had been carrying throughout their conversation. " _Livid_. Frankly, I don't know how either one of us managed to get out of bed this morning." Lance stated, laughing out loud at his own joke.

Shiro rolled his eyes, he could hear the sarcasm in the younger man's voice and he decided Lance's bad jokes were just barely better than having his subordinate angry with him. "Really?" Shiro barely managed out in the same sarcastic tone, trying his best to keep up with the banter while his heart still beat hard in his chest.

"Oh I have more, Daddy. Just you wait." Lance promised with a wink.

He felt his cheeks heat up once more at the pet name that really no one should be calling him at the moment and in such a public place. Unlucky for Shiro, he knew Lance well enough to know he could make good on that promise. "Greeaaatttt..." Shiro chuckled, knowing that deep down Lance meant everything in good fun. He turned back to his breakfast when he heard the side door to the dining room slide open.

"Good morning, _Doll_!" Lance grinned widely upon seeing Keith enter the dining hall right on schedule.

Shiro's gray eyes snapped wide as he shot his head up to stare at his boyfriend. ' _No… fuck…_ ' Shiro swore, knowing that it was probably very unlikely that Keith would see Lance's greeting as a joke. "Keith—" Shiro called out across the room preemptively.

The Red Paladin froze immediately upon hearing someone else call him that name. "What the fuck did you call me?" He snapped, instantly defensive as his face reddened, quickly approaching Lance for a fight.

"He knows." Shiro explained quickly, hoping that the obvious confirmation would calm Keith down if it came from him. He carefully rose to his feet, holding his hand out to Keith in hopes he would take it. "and it's fine." He continued. "It's fine."

Keith scowled, slapping the hand away. He was angry that Lance would be the first one on the team to find out. He was embarrassed that Lance would even dare call him anything other than his name. "You motherfucker." Keith snapped across the table, leaning as far over as he could with Shiro's firm hand across his chest.

Lance had to admit that he loved pissing his Greatest Rival off. "Do you mean 'daddyfucker'?" Lance called out with a grin, completely unfazed by how angry The Red Paladin seemed to be.

Keith's face grew hot. He was mortified and furious. He wondered what he had done to deserve this sort of humiliation. He wondered why Shiro was not stepping in to defend them. "I don't have to stand here and take this!" He snapped, unable to think of anything else to say. "Especially from you." He pulled away from Shiro, slapping his hands away angrily.

Lance could not stop himself from laughing into his bowl when he heard the door open and close behind him, Keith gone from sight.

"Lance…" Shiro shot him a glare. He was sure that Lance would not notice that he had taken his teasing too far. "You owe him an apology." Shiro scolded, speaking to him as the leader of Voltron rather than his friend.

"Absolutely not." Lance shook his head while his laughter began to calm. Even Lance could feel the tone in the room shift. He picked up on how tense Shiro seemed to be suddenly. Still, he had to argue his point."If anything he owes me an apology! I got no sleep last night because of you two. I'm allowed to make fun."

"You know there are more than five beds in the castle, I'm sure you could move to a room not next to ours." Shiro deadpanned, suddenly not hungry. "I'm not asking you to apologize. I'm telling you to." He picked up his half-eaten bowl of food. He shot Lance a glare before leaving him alone in the dining hall.

Thanks to Lance's big mouth, word soon spread across the Castle that he and Keith were together. No one else on the team seemed to even bat an eye at the information. Why would they? With the universe was in danger there were obviously much more important things to worry about than who was dating whom. While everyone else had the tact and common sense to realize that they would rather keep details of their relationship private, Lance's jokes continued and he still ignored Shiro's request to make nice with his partner. Often the jokes were followed by a "Lance, be nice," from Hunk or a "This is hardly the time or place for that," from Allura. More often than not, though, they simply ended with Keith storming out of the room, face red and hands shaking.

Shiro had been worried all along that once they had been outed it would effect Team Voltron. He did not realize it would be as bad as it was, though. Shiro considered them all lucky that they realized the break in Voltron's bond during training and not during an actual mission.

Training started as usual that day with the team trying out their different weapons against the Castle's defensive blasts. They had managed to form Voltron without a single hiccup, which had honestly surprised the leader. Everything had seemed to be going according to the training regimen that Shiro had thought up. "Lance, drone at four o'clock!" Shiro called out.

"I'm on it, _Daddy_." He responded quickly with a familiarity that Keith could not stand anymore.

"Enough!" The Red Paladin snapped. He jerked the arm of Voltron backwards, moving out of the way of the drone but also shifting the robot off balance. He continued his outburst as the robot began to fall. "I'm not going to sit here and take this!" He yelled. "Keep our names out of your fucking mouth, Lance!" Keith warned before breaking the arm off and dismantling Voltron single-handedly.

"Keith!" Shiro called out, scrambling to land his lion on its feet while simultaneously pacify his boyfriend.

"I don't want _someone like him_ in my head anymore." He snapped, not caring if the other members of their team could still hear him over the communication system. "I'm fucking done." Keith stated with finality before turning the Red Lion back towards the castle without another word.

For the first time in weeks, Lance was silent. The outburst had caught him completely off guard and found himself surprised that Keith was upset enough to dismantle their weapon. He held his lion still. Something in Keith's tone had stung hard. _'Someone like him'_? Lance repeated in his head. Even he wasn't so proud that he couldn't tell when he had gone too far.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the angry voice of their leader over his com. "Lance, you—"

"I know. I know." Lance interrupted. "I'm going. I'm… I'm sorry, Shiro…" He muttered softly, following the path the Red Lion had taken back to The Castle.

He knew Keith would be in the training deck. Lance was not surprised to find him already going tooth and nail with one of the training bots. Purple eyes flashed his way as Keith heard the door open then close behind Lance. "Get the fuck out." He snapped, focusing on the blade of the gladiator coming down to meet his.

"Can... Can we talk?" Lance asked hesitantly, keeping his distance against the wall.

His breath was ragged as he spoke. "No." Keith responded, jumping back from the bot to miss the gladiator's sword. "You're just here to apologize because Shiro told you to." He barked over the sound of blade hitting blade. "I'm not interested in your bullshit apology."

"I'm not here because Shiro—"

The hologram of the bot fizzled out and disappeared when Keith's sword pierced its armor. He turned to Lance, face red with sweat rolling down his brow. Lance's words caught in his throat. Keith was not crying, but he looked like he might. He held his sword out towards Lance like a threat. "Leave Shiro and I alone. I won't tell you again."

Lance swallowed, shaking his head. He had messed up. He had messed up royally, and he was not leaving until he had made it right. "Spar with me." He offered, pushing off the wall and daring to approach Keith.

A chuckle caught in Keith's throat, sounding more like a cough. He pulled back his sword, deactivating his bayard and hooking it to his belt."What? No." He shook his head, turning to leave the training deck.

Lance stepped in front of him, blocking his path to the door. "Spar with me." He repeated. "If I win you have to listen to what I have to say. If you win I promise I'll leave you alone until we get back to Earth."

A smirk formed on Keith's face as he shoved Lance to the side, continuing his way to the door. "You're a bigger idiot than I take you for…" He muttered.

"Let's go then." Lance called out to Keith's back, pulling his fists up into a defensive position. It was not enough, though, as Keith spun around quickly, kicking his legs out from under him. Lance swore out loud as he landed on the ground hard, gasping out as the wind was knocked out of him.

It did not take long for Lance to realize that challenging The Red Paladin to hand to hand combat was his second big mistake of the day. He tried and failed to bite back a yell as he was thrown against a wall, his head slamming against the hard surface. Lance slid down to the floor, turning around quickly to face his opponent.

Keith wiped his brow with the back of his gloved hand, panting slightly. "You had enough?" He challenged, standing over where Lance was slumped on the ground. He enjoyed how pitiful his teammate looked. Keith could not help but think that he deserved it.

Lance forced out a hollow laugh, grabbing a hold of the wall to pull himself up to his feet. He was aching all over, but he was not about to back down from a challenge. "In your dreams, Dollface."

Eyes narrowed at the pet name as it fell from Lance's lips. Even after all of this he was still stupid enough to keep joking around? "What is your fucking problem?!" Keith swore, throwing a hard punch at Lance that he narrowly dodged. Keith did not seem fazed when his fist landed hard against the wall, even though Lance knew he had heard a crack come from somewhere. "Why is my relationship a big joke to you?!" He cried out, turning to land a punch into Lance's side. Lance stumbled back, allowing Keith to approach him as he shifted to full defense. "You don't know a damn thing about me and you sure as hell don't know a thing about Shiro and I." He snapped, throwing another punch at Lance who blocked with his forearms, holding them up to his face as he was punched. "We worked fucking hard for what we have." Keith continued as he continued to punch Lance's arms, The Blue Paladin taking a step backward for every step he took forward."I waited _desperately_ him to come back from Kerberos." They were both growing tired. Lance noticed as Keith's punches came slower, allowing him to dodge better. "When his crew went missing it _destroyed me_." He stopped trying to plan a counter attack as Keith continued, allowing his teammate to vent to him while Lance tried not to get hit too hard anywhere too vital. "And he still puts our relationship second to Voltron." Lance did not dare to pull his arms down from his face to get a look at Keith, but he was pretty sure that he could hear him crying. "Puts _us_ second to selfish fucks like _you_ that thinks it's sooo fucking funny that you're stuck in space with some damn queers." Keith grabbed a hold of Lance's arms, shoving him violently to the ground.

Unable to regain his footing, Lance fell hard to the ground once more. He was in shock at what Keith had said. He had no idea that he had given off that impression. He looked up to his teammate who now had his back turned to him. "Are you- Are you kidding me!?" Lance managed out, quickly scrambling to sit up. He noticed Keith's shoulders tense before he continued. "Keith! I don't care if you're gay!"

Keith scoffed, assuming the fight to be over. "Shut it. You promised you'd leave me alone." He muttered, making his way towards the door.

He could not let Keith leave. Not on those terms. He had to do something. "I've been giving you a hard time because I'm jealous!" Lance cried out, filling the room. They both froze, a thick silence following his outburst. Keith did not turn to face him, but he also did not make any further moves to leave. Lance took that as an opportunity to continue. "I mean… Can you blame me? We're all stuck here on this ship who knows where for who knows how long…" Lance let out a shaky breath. "My family doesn't know where I am and… I may never get the chance to tell them… We're all alone out here… Except for you both…" He swallowed when Keith slowly turned back around to face him. He dropped his head before continuing. "You're stuck out here with your _boyfriend_. Do you have any idea how great that is?" He could hear footsteps approach him as he sighed. "I wasn't lying when I told Shiro I was mad… Because… How the hell do I get that lucky?" He muttered, wiping his eyes quickly.

Lance looked up only when he heard Keith sit down on the ground in front of him. They both hated that they were both crying. "I… I'm sorry about your family…" Keith responded softly. "I know how important they are to you… That… It must be really hard…"

He had not been expecting Keith to be the one to apologize. "What? No… I-I owe you the apology." He shook his head quickly. "I was a dick. I shouldn't have said the things I did… I shared some personal stuff with the team." He raised his head to look at Keith, sincerely apologizing for everything. "I shouldn't've outed you guys like that…"

Keith could not help but nod at the apology. He could feel how serious his teammate was being. "You are a dick." Keith muttered. "But… I appreciate you admitting it, too." He smiled before rising to his feet, feeling a weight rising off of his shoulders.

"Hey!" Lance scowled. "I'm really trying here! Apologizing isn't exactly easy, ya know!"

"Yeah yeah…" Keith muttered, turning his back on Lance once more.

Lance scrambled up to his feet as Keith began to leave. "Wait! Keith! Are we good? Will you tell everyone we're good?" He called out, trying to follow him off of the training deck.

"I'll think about it…" Keith replied over his shoulder, a subtle sense of humor in his voice that Lance definitely picked up on.


End file.
